Ross County came from behind to defeat 10-man Motherwell 2-1 in a superb turnaround at Fir Park.
The Staggies had fallen behind just after the hour mark through Allan Campbell’s strike, however goals from Brian Graham and Ross Stewart turned the match on its head against an on-form Well side, who had Jake Carroll sent off in the latter stages.
The victory is the Staggies’ first league triumph on the road this season, moving Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson’s men up to fifth in the Premiership.
County made one change from the side which defeated St Mirren 2-1 the previous weekend, with Iain Vigurs ruled out with a foot injury and replaced in midfield by Tom Grivosti.
Motherwell came into the game in confident mood having racked up three straight wins, and were inches from an opener after seven minutes, when Jake Carroll curled a free kick just over Ross Laidlaw’s top right-hand corner. County also came close moments later when Billy Mckay glanced a header wide from Ewan Henderson’s set-piece.
Mckay was proving a handful for the home defence, with the striker seeing an acrobatic effort well gathered by Mark Gillespie, before he saw another shot deflected wide for a corner.
The first half remained finely poised, with Motherwell’s James Scott sending a low strike just wide of Laidlaw’s right-hand post on 21 minutes.
The Steelmen had the ball in the net three minutes later when Declan Gallagher nodded home following Carroll’s throw-in, however he was penalised for a foul in the box.
Both sides had chances just before the interval, with Gardyne firing over from a Marcus Fraser delivery, while at the other end Sherwin Seedorf drilled a low effort into the side-netting.
The game was up for grabs at the halfway but it was Motherwell who made the stronger start to the second half, and they were rewarded with an opener on 61 minutes. A neat exchange on the edge of the box saw Scott tee up Campbell, and he curled home a sweet first-time effort past Laidlaw from the edge of the box.
Motherwell had the chance to double their advantage moments later, with Scott forcing a fine save from Laidlaw after his initial effort had been blocked by Fontaine.
The Staggies restored parity on 75 minutes with a well-worked leveller. After being fed by Blair Spittal, Gardyne slipped an excellent pass to the feet of Graham, who showed fine composure to tuck past Gillespie just three minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Motherwell were reduced to 10 men on 80 minutes, when Well left back Carroll was shown two bookings in the space of 90 seconds for two fouls on Ross Stewart.
Staggies attacker Stewart was to have the final say, as he got on the end of a deep delivery from Richard Foster to steer a header past Gillespie from a tight angle.
